The Power of Pular

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Due to the lack of appropriate medical facilities in Guinea, I've been whisked away to Senegal for my mid-service check up. Despite all the fun forms and doctor visits, I'm choosing to see this as a second vacation.

First things first, the moment I got off the plane, I was greeted by sliding glass doors. I'm travelling with another volunteer from Guinea and we took this as a sign that Dakar would be a little different than what we were use to in Conakry. The customs officials immediately inferred that we were Peace Corps volunteers and started speaking to us in Wolof (the predominantly spoken local language in Senegal). We apologized in French, saying we didn't understand. But apparently Peace Corps is very well known here, and has a great reputation because this didn't really bother them. They asked us what language we did speak. So, we said, in Pular, we speak Pular. And much to my surprise, they then greeted us in Pular. Now the guide book had told me that 12%!o(MISSING)f Senegalese speak Pular as a first language so I didn't really have expectations of speaking anything but French here. Oh, how I was wrong.

Upon leaving the airport, I acquired a husband because of my Pular-speaking capabilities. My friend and I needed to exchange money because Senegal uses CFA, a much stronger and more far reaching currency than the Guinean Franc (the Senegalese laugh at us for how useless our money is). The first money changer was giving us a bad rate, so we asked another guy to help us out. I guess you should know that you can bargain over anything in West Africa, especially the exchange rate. So while bargaining with this second guy, Moussa, some Pular words/noises were said out of habit. Moussa immediately changed from French to Pular (and from a not-so-good price to an okay price). After talking for a little bit longer, he declared that I was his wife. I used this to my advantage and asked, since we're married and all, if I could use his phone. He obliged, and helped us call our ride and tell them we had arrived. For the next hour or so we chatted. Mostly it was him repeating to anyone who would listen that I was his wife, and me insisting on the contrary. Then when our ride finally did show up, Moussa carried my bag to the car and opened the door for me. As we got inside, I opted for "Good bye brother," much to his disappointment and protests.

Leaving Moussa behind, my friend and I settled in at the Peace Corps office in a more posh section of Dakar. We were immediately impressed by all the new amenities available to us including showers with hot water, a microwave, a bakery on the corner, a supermarket, and most importantly, ice cream!

But being the village-folk that we are, we searched out a place to find some nice, cheap, hot rice and sauce. We approached the first rice shack we saw and the woman greeted us in Pular. Much to her surprise, we returned her greeting. She then bombarded us with questions about where we were from, why we spoke Pular, would we marry her son, etc. etc. It turns out her family is from Guinea, near my friend's site. This over-joyed the woman and we were quickly invited to sit and eat. After we'd eaten a plate or two of peanut sauce, we got up to leave. When we tried to pay for our meal, she adamantly refused. If we forced money on her when she's offered us food it would only be insulting. In the days since, we've eaten many a meal with this woman. She's yet to accept even one franc from us.

Since then, we've met a handful of Pular speakers. All of them have been extremely happy to meet us. This isn't to say that if you only speak French or even just English here that people won't be nice to you. On the contrary, we've met many more people who don't speak one word of Pular who have been overwhelmingly hospitable. But if you're able to throw around a few words in local language, there's no better way to thank people and show your respect.

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Photos

Goree Island
Cliff side of Goree Island with the Industrial Zone of Dakar in the background.

Dakar Skyline
Skyline of the Dakar Plateau from Goree Island

Wandering
Taking our time exploring Goree Island.

The House of Slaves
This is the museum that we went to Goree Island to see. Unfortunately because we decided to say hi to everyone on the island, by the time we found the museum it was already closed for lunch. Maybe next time. :)